Alan Henning’s brother calls for British troops to join the fight against Isis - Great we all should join this flight against ISIS UNHUMAN GROUP

Alan Henning’s brother calls for British troops to join the fight against Isis - Great we all should join this flight against ISIS UNHUMAN GROUP

Brother of murdered aid worker from Salford says the ‘monsters’ responsible will not be found by ‘dropping a few bombs’

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Henning said his brother had 'captured the hearts of the public and he did not deserve to die'. Photograph: British Foreign and Commonwealth office/Handout/EPA

The brother of murdered British aid worker Alan Henning has called for British troops to be sent to fight Islamic State.

Reg Henning said that bombing the militants was not enough and that ground forces should go in to find the “monsters” behind his brother’s murder and bring them to be tried in Britain.

He said the Henning family had been in a “living nightmare” and condemned the government for preventing them from speaking out about his brother’s capture.

RAF aircraft have been in action over Iraq and have struck Islamic State targets but, he said, “you’re not going to find them by dropping a few bombs” there.

“We need to send ground forces in to find out where these monsters are – the sooner we do it the sooner the killing stops.”

He added: “Go and find them, bring them to justice, bring them over here, let us try them.”

He was speaking to the BBC days after a video appeared online purporting to show the murder of his 47-year-old brother, who is from Salford, by the Islamists.

In the emotional interview, Henning said his brother had “captured the hearts of the public and he did not deserve to die”.

He said: “I just remember his happy smiling face, and the picture in the media where he is holding the young child will be my lasting image of Alan.”

“For the last three weeks I’ve hardly slept, I’ve felt sick, physically sick,” he said.

Reg Henning said: “We were told not to discuss it, virtually we were gagged for nine months, couldn’t say a thing to anybody. It was just done on a need-to-know basis which, basically, was immediate family.”

Asked how the request not to speak about his brother’s kidnapping made him feel, he said: “I think it’s disgusting because, if we had been able to talk, and voice our opinions, I think the government may have stood up and listened more.”

“We’ve seen the campaign that Alan’s generated now, all the ribbons round Eccles and everything. If this was done six months ago it could have done more good.”

But he backed the government’s policy of not paying ransoms to secure the release of hostages held by Isis, in contrast to the appeals by the family of murdered American journalist James Foley.

Reg Henning said that, “by giving them more money, you are giving them the opportunity to purchase more arms and weapons and that would just increase the problem because they would be in the position to snatch more hostages.”

Henning, who described his brother’s killers as “barbaric”, said he hoped Cameron “stands by his word” to hunt down those responsible.